Written By: Dominique Jordan
January 8, 2021
In my country, being a pharmacist is mostly perceived as a women’s occupation. Even more, it is perceived as such a nice profession for a woman, because it is clean, and the pharmacy smells nice! Perhaps I should consider myself lucky, and I do, but not for those reasons.
After graduating I enjoyed working in a community pharmacy much more than I ever thought I would. Perhaps it was because I am a woman that I had empathy for my patients, patience to listen to their stories, and understanding for their worries and fears. I enjoyed every moment where I felt I was helping my patients and made a difference to their health.
Then I decided to pursue a career in science. I found it very distressing when one of my professors, a woman professor, told me that being a woman in science meant I could not have children, because I could not be committed to both.
I thought about those words for a long time, and then I decided I could do whatever I set my mind to do. So I juggled between a baby and a toddler and my PhD studies, between my family and my career. And, yes, sometimes it was challenging, but I found it very satisfying. I never felt I wasn’t giving enough to one or the other. I felt I had the best of both worlds, and I was giving back as much as I could.
I love my job, working at the university, teaching new generations of pharmacists. I love science, and currently I am running a research grant focusing on a women’s health topic — breast cancer.
I wanted to stay in touch with the profession and patients, so I pursued opportunities where I could also give my contribution to public health and development of the pharmacy profession in my country. I was elected president of the Young Pharmacists Group in the Croatian professional association of pharmacists and, after a few years, this was followed by my chairing the YPG of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP YPG).
On the way I had extraordinary mentors who encouraged me to embrace all the opportunities in front of me. As I reflect on this now, I realise that all of them were women pharmacists. These women all inspired me in different ways and at different times of my life and career, but they all had one thing in common – they recognised a spark and showed me how to light some fireworks!
Today I am a proud mentor to one young woman colleague from Turkey, a future pharmacist wanting to pursue a carrier in science. I find the FIP YPG platform of the mentorship programme so rewarding — just to think that I can help this young woman follow her dreams, and to support her in taking all the professional opportunities that come her way. I want to empower this young woman to take active control of her career and to show her that all obstacles can be overcome, that all she needs to be is confident and self-aware, and that the ability to change her own life (and to make a difference in someone else’s) and make positive changes in the profession in her country is in her.
About the author: Miranda Sertić is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry University of Zagreb, Croatia